Chapter 12 An Unexpected Re #4
Maybe Tan didn't yet.
But a father knows.
"Oh my goodness," Terrence murmured.
Tan frowned.
"What?"
Terrence smiled.
"Nothing."
He opened the door.
"Come eat."
Dinner was loud.
Exactly as Tan warned.
Gloria had cooked enough food for twenty people.
Eva asked Amari about work.
Ella wanted to know where she bought her sweater.
Travis asked how federal procurement actually worked.
Harold told three fishing stories nobody requested.
Terrence spent most of the meal observing.
And Tan?
Tan barely noticed anyone else whenever Amari laughed.
At one point, Amari caught Terrence watching his son.
She smiled.
"He always like this?"
"Like what?"
"Quiet until somebody asks something serious."
Terrence nodded.
"Since he was little."
Tan looked toward them.
"Why are y'all talking about me?"
"Because you're not interesting enough to talk to directly," Travis said.
Tan threw a dinner roll at him.
Eva gasped.
"Not at my table!"
Travis caught it.
"Exhibit A."
Amari laughed so hard her dimples deepened.
Tan watched her.
Terrence watched him.
There it was again.
His son was falling.
Maybe not fully.
Not yet.
But he was headed that way.
Terrence smiled to himself.
After dinner, Amari helped Eva in the kitchen despite repeated protests that guests weren't supposed to clean.
Tan stood in the backyard with Terrence.
"Well?"
Tan leaned against the patio railing.
"Well what?"
"Don't play dumb."
"You like her?"
Terrence smiled.
"Very much."
Tan nodded.
"Good."
"You care about that?"
"Of course."
Terrence looked at him.
"You serious about her?"
Tan's expression changed.
"We've only been dating three months."
"Not what I asked."
Tan looked through the kitchen window.
Amari was laughing with Eva.
Gloria had joined them.
Ella stood nearby.
She fit.
Strangely quickly.
Naturally.
"I could be."
Terrence nodded.
"That's what I thought."
Tan looked toward his father.
"You knew Mama was the one immediately?"
Terrence laughed.
"No."
"How long?"
"Long enough to know she irritated me differently than everybody else."
Tan laughed.
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
Terrence's smile softened.
"Love didn't hit me like lightning."
"It grew."
"Every time she showed up."
"Every time she kept her word."
"Every time I saw how she treated people who couldn't do anything for her."
"Then one day I realized I had stopped imagining my future without her."
Tan absorbed that.
Terrence nodded toward the kitchen.
"Don't rush to name anything."
"Just pay attention."
"To what?"
"Who you're becoming around her."
Tan looked through the window again.
Amari spotted him.
She smiled.
Tan smiled back.
Terrence saw everything.
He slapped Tan's shoulder.
"You're in trouble."
Tan laughed.
"Probably."
That night, after they left the David home, Amari remained quiet for several blocks.
Tan glanced toward her.
"You okay?"
"Yeah."
"Too much?"
"Your family?"
"Yeah."
She looked at him.
"They're wonderful."
Tan smiled.
"They liked you."
"I could tell."
"Grandma texted me while we were still at dinner."
Amari laughed.
"What did she say?"
Tan picked up his phone at a red light and handed it over.
Grandma: Don't mess this up. I like her.
Amari burst out laughing.
"Oh, I love her."
"I knew this was a mistake."
She handed the phone back.
Then her expression became thoughtful.
"Seeing all of you together..."
"What?"
"I understand you better."
Tan looked over.
"Good or bad?"
"Good."
She smiled softly.
"You grew up loved."
The words touched him.
"Yeah."
"Really loved."
"Yeah."
Amari looked through the windshield.
"I like that."
Tan reached across the console and took her hand.
"So did I."
She squeezed his fingers.
For the rest of the drive, neither let go.
Later, standing outside Amari's front door, Tan kissed her slowly.
Not with the urgency of the parking garage.
Something deeper had entered the way they touched now.
Familiarity.
Trust.
Amari rested both hands against his chest while his arms settled around her waist.
When their lips parted, she didn't move away.
Instead, she rested her cheek against him.
Tan held her.
Quietly.
No pressure for more.
Just closeness.
Amari listened to his heartbeat.
"T?"
"Yeah?"
"I really like you."
He smiled into her hair.
"I really like you too."
She lifted her face.
"That's all I wanted to say."
"Good."
"Don't make it weird."
"I wasn't."
"You were smiling."
"Can't smile?"
"Not like that."
Tan laughed.
She kissed him again.
Short.
Sweet.
Then opened the door.
"Goodnight."
"Night."
He watched until she locked the door behind her.
Amari leaned against it from the other side.
Still smiling.
Tan walked toward his car thinking about Terrence's words.
One day I realized I had stopped imagining my future without her.
He wasn't there.
Not yet.
But for the first time, Tan understood exactly how someone might arrive there without noticing.
Slowly.
One dinner.
One kiss.
One conversation.
One Sunday with family.
One moment of choosing to stay.
And somewhere far beyond the warmth forming between Tan and Amari, another Lee was about to see Tan's face for the first time in more than twenty years.